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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2019)
APRIL 17, 2019 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO BY SAUNDRA SORENSEN W See LEGAL SERVICES on page 3 The 2019 Rose Festival Court was introduced to the public for the first time April13 at the annual Blessing of the Festival and Memorial Service at Piedmont Presbyterian Church.. Following the blessing there was a rose planting ceremony and reception. This annual tradition marked the beginning of the Rose Festival season, introduces the 2019 Court and pays respect to honored members that have recently passed. Dr. Markisha Smith Steps Into New Role at City New Director of Equity and Human Rights talks about her vision for the role By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News n February, Dr. Marki- sha Smith became Port- land’s new director of the City of Portland Of- fice of Equity and Human Rights. Dr. Smith came to the city from the Oregon Depart- ment of Education, where she had served for six years as director of Equity, Di- versity, and Inclusion. Pri- or to that, Dr. Smith served as a professor and director of undergraduate teacher at Warner Pacific College AP PHOTO/CHARLES KRUPA I Lawrence Cherono, of Kenya, breaks the tape to win the 123rd Boston Marathon in front of Lelisa Desisa, of Ethiopia, right, on Monday in Boston. Kenya’s Cherono Wins Men’s Boston Marathon in Sprint to Tape page 10 Senator asks IRS to Explain Disproportionate Auditing page 10 and Western Oregon Uni- versity, and as an equity trainer and strategic con- sultant for Metro and the Camas, Washington school district, among other local contracts. Before she got her PhD, she taught high school in English in Texas. In her new role, Dr. Smith leads a team of 11 staff; the office’s 2018-19 budget is $1.9 million. The Office of Equity and Human Rights provides education and technical support to city staff and elected officials with the aim of recogniz- ing and removing system- ic barriers to just distri- bution of resources. Last week The Skanner sat down with Dr. Smith to find out how she intends to tackle the job. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. THE SKANNER NEWS: Tell us a little bit about your background and where you came from and how you came to this work. DR. MARKISHA SMITH: It’s interesting because I never really thought that I’d be in public service and the government. I taught high school English in Tex- as and loved that, loved education — loved every- thing about education and decided to go back to school and work on a doc- torate. Then I said, “OK, what do I do with this?” It made sense that I would go into higher ed and so I started down a track of academia and tenure and all of the things that come with that. I had a couple of appointments in Michigan and then moved here and worked at Western Oregon University and Warner Pa- See SMITH on page 3 White Supremacist Gets Life for Killing Larnell Bruce Russell Courtier found guilty of murder, hit-and-run driving and hate crime in death of young Black man PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A White supremacist who ran down and killed a young Black man in Oregon two years ago was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of pa- role for 28 years. Russell Courtier’s sen- tencing came after jurors in March found Courtier, 40, guilty of murder, hit-and-run driving and the hate crime of second-degree intimidation in the death of 19-year-old Larnell Bruce, local media reported Tuesday. Courtier and Colleen Hunt were in a Jeep driven by Courtier in August 2016 when he was encouraged by Hunt to drive into Bruce af- ter the two fought outside a convenience store in the Portland suburb of Gresham, authorities have said. Prosecutors argued Court- ier was motivated by his White supremacist beliefs — saying he was a member of the European Kindred See SENTENCED on page 3 PHOTO: MULTNOMAH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE hen Don’t Shoot PDX opened a second office at 14 NE Kill- ingsworth earlier this year, founder Teressa Raiford envisioned it as a venue to legally em- power vulnerable members of the com- munity. “We have anti-racism laws in the country, we have anti-discrimination laws,” Raiford said during a public brainstorming session at the offices of FAIR HOUSING PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER By Saundra Sorensen For The Skanner News Portland and Seattle Volume XLI No. 29 News .................................. 3,10 SPECIAL SECTION Opinion ...................................2 Calendars ...............................4 A & E ........................................9 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 ................................. Pages 5-8 BLESSING OF THE FESTIVAL Don’t Shoot PDX will launch a Community Legal Referral Services program by the end of spring. Don’t Shoot PDX to Launch Community Legal Referral Services Program 25 CENTS Russell Courtier, the White supremacist who ran down and killed Larnell Bruce two years ago was sentenced Tuesday.